Around the Bay - March 25, 2012

I had an rather aggressive race plan , gave it a shot but fell well short of what I was trying to do. I ran 30K in 2hrs35min55sec for and average pace to 5min12sec/km. This was my second ATB and I really felt that I could beet my 2010 time of 2hrs23min17sec. My stretch goal was 2hrs15min and I really felt like if everything lined up it may be possible! 2hrs30mins was a given or at least that's what I thought! I have ran enough to know that going out faster then what you are capeable will result in a longer overall time then if you went out at a more reasonable pace. Sometimes you just have to go for it but boy oh boy does it ever make the home stretch tough. By far the best part of the day was hanging out with members of the Saugeen Tri Club bumping into so may of the OUS and RM folks. ATB is truly a season opener, kind of a home coming of sorts. The fun started from the moment I left Durham with Matt and Anne and it didn't stop until after I returned.


Overall it was a fantastic day in spite of being disappointed with my results!

Bib # Time Chip Pace Category Category Place Gender Place
3324 2:36:24.6 2:35:55.3 5:12 M50-54 170/516 1073/3139

Splits
10 km Split 0:47:46.2
15 km Split 1:12:47.3
20 km Split 1:38:51.0







Oh yeah, the
race!!!!

Seeded myself near
the front but it still took me 31 seconds to get over the matt. I started the Garmin when the Gun went off and the walk to the matt made for a slow 5min3sec first K. Settled into a 4:30
pace quickly logging a 4:30 and 4:33 time thorough the 2nd and 3rd K. I tried to hold this pace but it was a struggle to maintain it logging 4:46, 4:42, 4:55, 4:44. 4:45, 4:46 and 4:37 through 10K. This was when I abandoned the idea of holding a 4:30 pace and switched to plan B trying to get it under 2hrs23min17sec my 2010 time. I was aiming for somewhere around a 4:45 pace
but I will still fighting to maintain it! At around 12K my quads and hamstrings felt like concrete and I continued to slow , 10 thru 15K I logged 4:57, 4:48, 4:54, 4:59, 5:09 Ks. At the 15K mark I changed my goal again and that was to finish under 2hrs30mins. The new objective was to maintain a 5:00 pace. I continued to struggle and nothing came naturally and was fighting it
all the way. 15 through 20K was logged in 4:53, 5:01, 5:06, 5:09 and 5:37. I found that the Hills really took allot out of me and the last 10K was run whishing it would be over. 20-27k was run in , 5:18, 5:35, 5:21, 5:55, 5:38, 5:23 and 6:01. I had vision a sprint to the finish after the big one but the last hill did me in. I no longer cared about my time and my new goal was not to walk! Managed to hang in there and coasted in the last few Ks faking it all the way …logged 6:24, 5:52 and 5:43 taking it into Cops ….Chip Time 2:36:24! I was quite happy to be done but a fair bit bummed out about my performance.